Parallel
by El-Nadador
Summary: [RenoxRufus M for later chapters] Reno joins the Turks and finds an unusual friendship quality in the vice president. They grow together, endure hardship and suffering, but ultimately their dependance on each other leads to so much more.
1. Abrubtness

'The vice president's office is here, Reno…He works a lot with the Turks, and as you have only just joined, you must introduce yourself to him personally.'

'Er…ok, thanks Tseng…' Reno trailed off. He always felt that this guy talked like he was reading a textbook. Made conversation a bit weird. But then again, everything in Reno's life was weird right now. Tseng cleared his throat lightly to hurry Reno along, and the redhead complied. He grasped the handle of the door and entered, trembling slightly for some reason. He had heard that the vice could be as bad or _worse_ than the president when unimpressed…and he was determined to impress today. Even if he had forgotten his tie. He closed the door behind him.

The light reflecting off the bright white décor stung Reno's eyes momentarily. He was faced with an immensely long office, at the end of which sat a white desk and a black chair, the back to him.

_Typical.__ Wants to scare me as much as he can._

Reno had no idea what he was to be faced with when was noticed. He thought of the president briefly – in his sixties, fat, short, wrinkled. He had had many wives, and it was likely the vice came from the first few. So…that would make him what? About forty? Probably just like his dad. Short, fat. Reno grew almost sick with fear as he approached the desk, and as he slowed to a halt, he coughed lightly, hoping to gain his attention.

It worked, and the chair turned suddenly. Reno's mouth dropped as he saw what sat opposite him – a boy of no more than around fifteen or sixteen, blonde hair falling over his face, eyebrows knotted in concentration as thumbs furiously tapped the buttons of his hand held console. He sighed abrubtly and paused, switched it off and set it down. As Reno continued to gape, the vice finally looked at him. Blinking a couple of times, he looked as confused as Reno did.

'So…I assume you are the newest addition to the Turk's ranks?' he said. Reno snapped up straight, vaguely intimidated by the vice's perfectly elocuted statement.

'Yes…_sir_. I was told to come and introduce myse-' The vice cut him short with a hand. Suddenly, he sank in his chair and smirked slightly.

'Look, don't bother with all that 'sir' stuff. I can't stand it. I can't stand _this_,' he motioned around, '…it reminds me of my stupid father and his hopes for me.'

Reno just blinked. He hadn't expected that spiel just for introducing himself. Shinra Jr leaned back, and then lazily motioned that Reno should sit down. He obeyed. The vice leant forward again, and leant on his hand.

'…I'm sorry, I'm just in a really bad mood today. What's your name…?' he said gently, closing his eyes gently. He looked shattered. Reno still was slightly stunned that the delicate teenager in front of him was the vice, and failed to speak for a second or two.

'…Reno Turizuki,' he mumbled.

'Oh…' the vice replied. Reno furrowed his brows, and relaxed slightly.

'Come on then, what's yours? I only know you as 'the vice',' he said, with a little more confidence.

'Yeah. Not many people do know my name…I'm Rufus. In fact…I think I remember reading something that was sent to me…You're the one they plucked from SOLDIER, right?'

Reno nodded. Folding his arms, he decided to chat a little.

'Uh-huh…Funny, couple o' years ago I was just another slum rat, I joined soldier for some money and got through the ranks almost as fast as Sephiroth…surprised they didn't pick me earlier,' he jested. Rufus smiled lightly, then frowned.

'But…you're like what, fifteen? Sixteen? Any earlier would be evil…I mean, I hate this. I'm fifteen and could be taking on the company any day soon…'

'Yeah, but I'm fifteen and I'm part of a black ops squad…They both suck, dude…' Reno replied. An odd silence descended on the two as they thought on this. Way down at the other end of the office, Tseng opened the door to hurry them along.

'Excuse me sir, but Reno must continue on with his day…' he said slowly. Reno rolled his eyes. Tseng seemed like such as ass-licker. Rufus leant back again and nodded. Holding out his hand, Reno shook it as he stood up. However, just as he turned, Rufus grabbed the arm nearest him. Reno twisted round and looked at him inquisitively, only to find the vice rummaging through a side draw.

'Sorry…don't go just yet…' he murmured. Reno waited and unexpectedly found a pair of goggles thrust into his hand. 'Your hair all in your face was annoying me. Use these to keep it out…'

Reno mumbled thanks and walked back to Tseng, thoroughly confused by this short meeting.

_Weird kid._


	2. Disassemblefying

**AN: - Thanks for reviews – by the way, the first chapter was just a baby taste of what is to come. A preview chapter to grab the masses' attention…yeah. Their meeting was very abrupt and I tried to reflect it – think I did that badly :-/. Oh well. This is longer. Much longer. Have fun!**

.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.

_One month later_

The alarm bleeped by the bedside. Repeatedly. On and on, reminding Reno that work started in hours he had previously never heard of. Shame, really. Seemed like all the nice dreams he had happened at around 4:45 in the morning…that had been a nice dream. An odd one though.

The alarm continued. Rolling over, he slapped the top angrily and hauled himself up. Feet landing in last night's take out boxes, the thought of getting a maid drifted its way across his mind. It was great to actually have money for a house now that he was with the Turks, but that was pretty much the only perk of the job. Well, so far.

The half-dressed youth staggered into the bathroom and studied his reflection. Ordinarily he'd spend anything from thirty seconds to five minutes just staring at himself…Then the awful truth hit him…Gun training today. Oh god. Guns. With Tseng.

Why? _Why did it have to be guns?_ Noisy, messy, annoying, easy to get wrong, and _hell to work with when you're with Tseng._

Not fair. Even though Reno was grateful for his job, he had hated virtually every second so far. It didn't matter anyway, he would be sixteen soon and that would automatically bring him into Turkhood. Almost as if they hired him at 15 just so he could undergo training to fill in the time…Well. Maybe he'll find a distraction today…that was pretty likely. Reno had found he had a pretty good knack for pissing off his boss easily. And hell, it cracked the others up, so why not? It was virtually impossible to get respect from them anyway, being around five years younger than the rest.

Reno shrugged and carried along his way. In around quarter of an hour, he was dressed in his crumpled uniform and ready to go.

_Oh, just one more thing._

He grabbed a pair of goggles from the TV aerial and slung them around his neck. Holding the lenses, he pushed them onto his forehead, his wet bangs now dangling sloppily in front of his face.

* * *

'Try again, Reno…I'm resetting the stopwatch…' Tseng drawled. Reno groaned and slapped his hand to his forehead. Stretching out his hands, he prepared to give it another go.

'Seriously Tseng, why the hell would I have the urge to…dis…de-ass…de-assemblify and reassemble my gun in a combat situation _in under a minute?_' he moaned, rubbing the rapidly forming sores on his hands. Tseng smirked slightly.

'Reno, it's called standards…anyway, I had to do this when I started out too. And unfortunately for you, I vowed that if I was ever in Veld's position I would make my student suffer. So here we are. Again.'

The redhead suddenly found himself vowing a similar scenario when his attention wandered to the figure at the end of the shooting gallery. He watched as Tseng rubbed his eyes absentmindedly – he was clearly just as tired of it all as the youngest Turk was. Reno could feel his attention wandering…and settling again on a recognisable character in white at the end of the shooting gallery. Reno set down his gun and turned to Tseng.

'Can I just take a break for a couple of minutes? My hands are hurtin'…' Reno said. Tseng rolled his eyes, about to strike back with something bitter and cold, when he observed Reno walking away in the direction of the shooting gallery. Tseng shook his head in indignation, only to realise he was exactly the same a few years previous.

The young Turk continued down the hall, intrigued by the lone stranger in the corner. Reno took a cursory glance in each occupied cubicle as he passed, observing all matter of things; some Turks actually doing their job and shooting, some carrying out suspicious businesses of their own, and in one, two getting a little over-familiar with each other. Reno snorted slightly. There were so many Turks, he barely knew any. And it seemed like one went down virtually every other day…at this Reno was saddened slightly. Being so young and inexperienced, how soon would that happen to him?

Reno had clearly wondered for a long time. He found himself in front of the figure in white, only to find that it was the young Vice President he had met at the beginning. Reno opened his mouth to say something, when the other started first.

'Well, here we are again…enjoying training?' he said, not looking at Reno. The redhead blinked and watched in confusion as Rufus picked up the shotgun with both hands, contemplated it for a second, then turned to Reno and smiled. Suddenly, he snapped to face the target and loaded the huge weapon into one hand and fired it. Reno stumbled backwards from the sound of the blast and out of amazement – the thin young man before him had the strength to fire a shotgun one-handed…and from the looks of things, aim perfectly with one arm as well.

Reno gaped for a second before answering.

'Training is crap…but by the look o' things I think _you_ need to be training me…'

Rufus just smiled gently and shrugged. He was probably used to compliments, yes-men sucking up to him and adoring colleagues.

'I can't really help it. I've been training like you since I was 8…plus I've probably got more mako in these veins than blood…' he said, a little sadly. Reno frowned slightly. He had only met this kid once before, but already he got the impression there was a lot he wanted to say about his life.

'That's sadistic, man…since you was 8? Don't mind me asking, but, er, _why!_' Reno said, folding his arms and tilting his head back slightly. Rufus just shook his head and chuckled lightly.

'Just my pig of a father after the perfect son. Nothing else to it,' he replied lightly, dismissing concern with a casual wave. The corners of Reno's mouth tugged into a smirk – this guy was more bitter than he let on. However, silence descended again and Reno took the opportunity to make conversation.

'Hey…talking of guns, do you know any Turks that _don't_ use 'em…?' he started. Rufus furrowed his brow.

'How do you mean?'

'Well, it's just…coming straight outta SOLDIER, practicing swordplay for…3 years, it sucks having to use guns…' Reno finished. Rufus nodded and set down the shotgun.

'Yeah, I know what you mean. Every Turk has a preferred weapon, and you fancy something close range? Well, errr…' Rufus tipped his head back for a second, '…there's the guy with spiky browny hair…he uses an EMR, you know?' Reno shook his head at this, 'It's a kind of…stick thing with a tazer on the end.'

Reno just raised an eyebrow.

'So that's it? I can use a gun…or a cattle prod? Great.'

Rufus shook his head madly at this.

'No, no way… it's amazing what he can do with it. It packs one hell of a punch, too…electrically speaking.'

Reno paused, then laughed at this. The young vice president cocked his head on one side.

'Nah, I'm sorry…you just crack me up…' Reno saw Rufus' face fall at this, '…no, in a good way! It's just…I dunno. Never met anyone like you before!'

Rufus shrugged and smiled.

'I'll take that as a compliment…right?'

Reno smiled warmly. Rufus cracked his knuckles to break the silence.

'You know, if you are interested in an Electro Mag Rod, I'd be happy to help you look into one…'

Reno nodded in reply, clicking his tongue in thought.

'Yeah, actually. That'd be cool. Sounds like fun-'

'Reno! That's 8 minutes break – get back here!' Tseng called angrily from the other end of the shooting gallery. Reno rolled his eyes and looked at Rufus. He straightened up fully, placed a fingertip on his forehead and the other behind his back.

'Well sir, I must take my leave of you, rest assured there will be a full report on our meeting on your desk in and hour and if you happen to see Heidegger or Veld, please kiss their asses on my behalf!' Reno said loudly, emulating Tsengs' accent perfectly. Rufus attempted to stifle an unrepressable laugh and Reno walked away, giving him a cocky salute.

'See you around , V.P…' he drawled, glancing at him from over his shoulder as he sauntered back to Tseng. Rufus crossed his arms and chuckled lightly.

_See you around, Reno_ _of the Turks._

He looked forward to it.


End file.
